welcome to the best office in Britain Adrian Thomas, the man at the helm of Mermaid Pleasure Trips in , couldn’t be happier

Words by Alex Wade, photographs by Mike Newman / www.ocean-image.com

nyone feeling seasick?” “ The man asking the question is AAdrian Thomas, the skipper of Mermaid II, a fishing and pleasure boat which has been working out of Penzance harbour for just over the past decade. I’m aboard the red 33ft long vessel with some 25 customers, and we’ve just passed Cove. Having asked his question, Adrian pauses, then answers it himself. “If you are, the best cure is to go and sit underneath a tree.”

108 | today above: Skipper Adrian Thomas giving a guided tour above: The harbour on the Mount www.cornwalltoday.co.uk | 108 a few moments before it dives. “They always do that, before only thing I want to do.” they swim off,” explains Semmens. It’s as well that Adrian doesn’t see his work as drudgery, On we go. The golden sands of beach are because there’s an awful lot of it. From late spring to the tantalisingly close but Adrian has set a course for the Runnel end of September Mermaid II is at sea more than she is Stone buoy, which lies off a mile off . The moored in Penzance harbour. Adrian takes passengers on buoy marks the beginning of the treacherous seal cove cruises, on trips to the Minack Theatre, on voyages reef, scene of over 30 shipwrecks between 1880 and 1923. around St Michael’s Mount and on mackerel and deep sea It emits a haunting, mournful moan when there is a swell fishing trips. The wildlife to be seen is extraordinary, from running. Today conditions are calm but the Runnel Stone can fulmars, puffins and gannets to dolphins and porpoises, never be taken lightly. even minky and humpback whales. “I know these waters like the back of my hand,” Adrian On my trip, there are beams of delight among those on tells me, “so I can take us between the reef, so that we’ll board; Adrian tells me that customers on the fishing trips are hug the shore on our return journey. But every year the sometimes even happier. “People love catching their own fish, lifeboat comes out for sailors who get in trouble here. It’s a going out to sea and coming home with Pollock, or bass, or dangerous place.” mackerel. That’s just for starters. It gives me so much pleasure Adrian’s commentary, indeed, turns out to be as educative to see the smiles on their faces.” as it is humorous. He explains the purpose of the day marks Back on land, I meet Vanessa. She takes the bookings and above: The old ; Handing out the rods and tackle visible on Gwennap Head, the seaward one a red cone, the runs the couple’s fishing supplies and gift shop, right on the inland one a black and white one. “You need to keep eye on harbour. “Business is going well,” she says, “but there’s just It’s a nice line, and it’s one of many: Adrian’s commentary ancient granite cliffs dropping down into the ocean to the the cones,” he says. “You’ve always got to have a gap between one problem. We’re so busy that I don’t get a chance to go when he takes Mermaid II out into Mount’s Bay and beyond starboard, and on the port side, endless blue sweeping away them, so that you can see the black and white one. If it’s on the boat any more.” is almost as notable as the spectacular scenery all around us. to the Lizard, it’s impossible not to agree that Adrian’s office is obscured by the red one, you’re directly on top of the reef.” This strikes me as a nice problem to have – and it’s one He has an able sidekick, too. Nine-year-son Kingsley helps just about the best in Britain. The cones were built in 1821 by , the UK’s that looks set only to increase, given that Adrian and Vanessa greet passengers, and father and son make a great double Suddenly there’s a commotion. Paul Semmens, a wildlife lighthouse and pilotage authority. Trinity House is also where have decided to embrace social media. “We’re a traditional, act throughout Mermaid’s trips, with Kingsley also keeping expert who comes on Mermaid’s trips to work as a spotter, Adrian began his working life: “I started with them as a deck boy family business, but we recognise that we need to move with a careful note of everything they see or, if it’s a fishing trip, shouts “Sunfish! To the right!” Adrian expertly brings in 1977, when I was 15,” he tells me. “I worked my way up and the times. So we’re now on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and catch. Another crew member is Billy, 16, who is serving an Mermaid around, and there on the surface is something became a Bosun, which means I was in charge of the deck. I’ve Instagram, and we’re looking to build up this side of things apprenticeship. I’ve never seen, in all the years I’ve lived in Cornwall: the spent my entire life at sea, working as a merchant seaman.” even more.” “How’d do you like my office?” asks Adrian, as we chug heaviest known bony fish in the world, a silvery mola Born and bred in , Adrian also lived on St Look out for Mermaid Pleasure Trips online, but better yet, past St Loy’s cove. We’ve already seen two seals basking on mola, or ocean sunfish. They can grow to a huge size Michael’s Mount when he was growing up. His in-depth climb aboard. Adrian is right – his office is just about the best the rocks of St Clement’s Isle, just off harbour; but are benign – save when they leap from the water: in knowledge of the Mount is obvious when Mermaid II potters in Britain. now we’re heading to the Minack Theatre to see if we can 2006, a four-year-old boy on a fishing trip in was around it, and so is his love of this part of Cornwall. “I’ve find the marine life often seen on Mermaid’s voyages – knocked over on his parents’ boat when a 30kg sunfish travelled the world’s oceans but this is the only place I want Visit www.cornwallboattrips.co.uk basking sharks, sunfish and dolphins. It’s a sunny, balmy day, landed on him. to be,” he says. “I started running Mermaid Pleasure Trips in See also www.facebook.com/MermaidII with the sea ruffled only slightly by a light breeze; with the The sunfish wriggles, its dorsal fin waving on the surface for 2004 with my wife Vanessa, but it isn’t a job to me. It’s the www.twitter.com/MermaidTrips

above: Billy helps Frank land a Pollock; Billy enjoys the customer’s pleasure at catching a decent sized cod above: Frank is all smiles having caught a large wrasse www.cornwalltoday.co.uk | 108